Tirek's defeat

Similar to my Nightmare Moon blog, I'd like to see how people think of Tirek's second imprisonment in Tartarus.

Basically you can look at it two ways:

1.) They teleported him there and materialized the cage around him

2.) They destroyed him and he received eternal tarnation to Tartarus (a.k.a. pony hell). Because they blast him with Rainbow Power and then he suddenly appears there with a cage around him, which is where he'd go if they had killed him

There's also a third theory that he was actually killed the first time, and he was undead for all of Twilight's Kingdom (which, before the episodes aired, extended to him being the same Tirek from G1 in the same continuity and his death at the hands of Megan was why he was in Tartarus). I do not believe that, I think Celestia and Luna sent him through the portal that time like he would later do to them.

So, what are your thoughts on which it is? Like the Nightmare Moon thing I need to know which way I should look at it. I am conflicted as to which I want to believe: On one hoof, I want him dead as the fitting conclusion of an epic battle, as well as what he did to Twilight (though for the latter, alive or dead Tartarus will be a nightmare for him). On the other hoof, there is a certain feeling I cannot explain about the idea that Chrysalis and Sombra are the only main villains of the series (not counting the Plunderseeds) to be killed off.

And yes, I know what you're all going to say about Chrysalis, but I can stand by my headcanon for her unless either Meghan denies it (Screwball said only she can give WordOfGod about Chrysalis) or she returns in the show.

So...

How did the Mane 6 send Tirek to Tartarus?

Teleported him there

16

Destroyed him like his G1 counterpart

4

I think Celestia and Luna killed him the first time and he was undead the whole episode

2

The poll was created at 23:44 on February 24, 2015, and so far 22 people voted.

Please wait, submitting your vote...

Edit, September 16th 2015: Actually, in spite of the votes, I've decided to quietly reinstate my old headcanon of Tirek. To anypony who doesn't explicitly want him dead, they just de-powered and teleported him there, creating the cage around him, but I'll say he's a damned soul now. I don't care about the Chrysalis and Sombra symbolism anymore, Tirek is a Knight of Cerebus as well. Nightmare Moon and Demon Sunset were corrupted versions of their original selves. This is the only place I'll be saying it though, and if Chrysalis and Sombra release Tirek in Siege of the Crystal Empire, it means nothing, just like Chrysalis's continued survival (after murdering kittens) and Sombra's revival in the comics' universe.

Another issue I had with my headcanon was that it would sorta cheapen Chrysalis and Sombra's deaths (which will remain my headcanon) to say that their afterlife is in a dimension that the living can enter through a portal, but there are three ways around this:

Characters walking into the afterlife while alive and interacting with the dead has been done before, most notably in Mario, Supernatural, Dragonball Z, and, to an extent, Charmed. Plus in Greek Mythology you can walk into Tartarus too

No one would even want to go into Tartarus in the first place because it's hell, described by the Elements of Harmony book as a nightmare dimension and one that left Tirek extremely weak. (in my headcanon, everyone imprisoned there must watch G3)

I noticed that when Tirek is reimprisoned there, we see three cells (one of which has Celestia, Luna, and Cadance), but of the three, only Tirek's was glowing (that circle that the cage was in the center of). I think maybe the glowing circles in the cells denote the dead of Tartarus, and they are invisible and noncorporeal to the living, or something like that (compare how Link and Midna can't be seen by the people-turned-spirits in the Twilight realm, and Link has to use his senses to see the spirits' true forms)

I'll do no such thing with Nightmare Moon, as both Lauren Faust and Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep officially debunked the "Nightmare Moon is a separate entity" theory.